The present application relates generally to the field of airbags in vehicles. More specifically, the present application relates generally to the field of curtain airbags in buses or other large passenger vehicles.
Occupants of school buses, commercial buses, motor-coach buses, and other large passenger vehicles currently have limited protection during side impact crash events. Occupant protection is usually limited to seatbelts and the structure of the bus itself. Curtain airbags have not been introduced to buses because of various issues. Buses traditionally do not have interior trim components, meaning an airbag in a bus would be exposed to the occupants and tampering of the airbag could be possible. Also, there are no curtain airbags designed to protect occupants in the unique geometry of a bus, such as high bench seats, unique seat spacing, and 0 to ten degree plane vertical side walls. There is not currently a curtain airbag system that meets a 0.51 to 0.8 stowed curtain package to deployed curtain airbag ratio that would be recommended for use in a bus. Additionally, deployed airbags may prevent proper egress of a bus.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an improved mechanism for protecting occupants, using curtain airbags, of a bus during side impact crash events while avoiding the issues listed above. Additionally, what is needed is a system to selectively deploy curtain airbags based on where the collision occurred.